statement

ever since i was a kid, painting made me happy. i always felt welcome by the whiteness of a clean sheet of paper. it was my way down the rabbit hole, it offered me peace and gave me a safe place where i could be myself without further explanation. my feeling for painting and drawing has not changed much ever since. as a matter of fact i know a work is going well if the brush stroke bring me to the same serene and peaceful feeling from my childhood. if not, i know i am on the wrong path.

my favorite tool is my brush! painting always has the priority for me. i like working with oils in general but currently i am working with water-based oils and enjoying the range of possibilities this new medium offers. besides painting however, i like making etchings and drawings as well.

during the course of my study, just like many other students, i switched from style to style. i started off as a photo-realist but by a professor i was forced to create abstract painting. i did not realize that he was doing me a favor by then. but now i do. thanks to his efforts and encouraging i  lost my stiff attitude and moved on.

i think of my paintings, each and every one of them, as large sized illustrations on canvas (or board). in my works, i like creating naive and serene atmospheres that are not bound by earthly rules like gravity. they are free fantasy worlds where i try honestly to translate my emotions and thoughts into colors and texture. the painting process is the exciting part for me: that is when it all happens. i start with laying down the background color (i never work on a white canvas, but on paper, i prefer starting off with a clean white sheet). the rest happens in a trance like state, a catharsis in several sessions. the time to complete a painting varies. i may face a problem on a painting and it might sit on my easel for years before i figure out how to solve it. and sometimes, it takes days to complete another painting.

i value honesty above all, also in my painting. saying that i can count the following names in the list of my influences: ender dandul, kay nielsen, saki, vincent van gogh, max beckmann, charlotte salomon,hundertwasser, fragonard, oscar wilde, niko pirosmani, ivan gantschev, james ensor among several others...